Google thought Michael Jackson traffic was attack — Google has confirmed that the surge of Michael Jackson-related searches on Google News Thursday was first interpreted as an attack on its service. — Google News was inaccessible for some people Thursday afternoon right as rumors …

Sprint throws a punch at the iPhone and AT&T — Here we have an ad from Sprint that's directed at early 1st gen iPhone adaptors. Bringing out the fact that the Pre can run “multiple applications” and save you $1200 in the long run, that's if you drop your 1st gen iPhone and come over to Sprint for the Pre.

Thumbing Windows 7 onto Netbooks — Microsoft has shown Windows 7 running on Netbooks ever since it introduced the operating system last fall. However, helping consumers get it on their notebooks has proven more tricky. — Microsoft is considering offering Windows 7 on a thumb drive …

Bugs & Fixes: iPhone 3GS signal strength oddities — I warn you at the outset. This is not going to be one of those Bugs & Fixes with a neatly defined set of symptoms and a iron-clad solution. This one's a bit messy. Here's the deal: — Almost immediately after getting my new iPhone 3GS …

Mole exclusive: PS3, 360 price drops coming this fall — Our favorite inside source has given us a heads-up on what to expect from both Sony and Microsoft this year in hardware packages and pricing. The path to the holidays is a rosy one, with more hard drive space inside the systems at a lower price.

Google CEO says worst of crisis is over — * CEO says “reasonable to be optimistic for 2010” — * Sees U.S. recovery starting in autumn — A U.S. recovery is likely to begin this autumn, the worst of the crisis has passed and it is “reasonable to be optimistic for 2010” …

Link from Yahoo breaks traffic records at New York Times — Behold the power of Yahoo: A link at the top of the site's front page helped send more than 9 million page views to The New York Times in the span of two hours last week, breaking records for web traffic at the newspaper.

Adding Insult To Injury: MySpace Botches Layoffs — When you've just gotten laid off, the last thing you want to hear is that you can't cash your last check because of one final payroll screwup. But that's apparently exactly what's going on over at MySpace, which laid off over 30% of its staff …

48% of Americans Would Drop Mobile Data Service Completely — Mobile Data, Voice Most Vulnerable in the Bundle — Faced with the need to reduce household expenditures, forty-eight percent of Americans would drop their mobile data plan completely, according to research about to be published …

Analyst: Nokia to Offer an Android Netbook in 2010 — Nokia plans to launch an ARM-based netbook that relies on the Google-pioneered Android mobile operating system in 2010, writes Lazard Capital Markets analyst Daniel Amir in a research note issued this morning.

Is Free News Really Worth the Price? — PARIS — If you are reading this, I am doing my job. — Roughly speaking, that is the compact that has underpinned the ties that bind those who write the news to those who read it. — But as the world hurtles into a digital era, other questions intrude …

Copyfraud: Poisoning the public domain — How web giants are stealing the future of knowledge — Special report The public domain is the greatest resource in human history: eventually all knowledge will become part of it. Its riches serve all mankind, but it faces a new threat.

Big Software Plans for Amazon's Kindle? — Amazon.com's buying and hiring signal that many more Kindle apps may be on the way—plus software to put Amazon books on other mobile devices — Giant online retailer Amazon.com may be plotting a broader foray into software for smartphones.

YouTube Doubles Upload Size Limit — YouTube has doubled the size of standard uploads for regular-Joe account holders to 2 GB from 1 GB. The company told us this afternoon the move was in order to accommodate users' HD uploads. But despite the size increase, non-partner videos are still limited to 10 minutes in length.

Who Exactly Is In Charge Of The App Store? Anyone? — Okay, the situation surrounding the App Store and its approval process continues to get weirder and weirder. — As you may have heard, an application featuring nudity first appeared in the App Store yesterday.

Winning Teams Join to Qualify for $1 Million Netflix Prize — The Netflix Prize, a computing challenge that's been compared to scaling Mount Everest and flummoxed programmers for more than three years, has been summited. — Two front runners in the contest, Team Pragmatic Theory and Team Bellkor …

The Economics of Privacy in Social Networks — We often think of social networking to Facebook, MySpace, and the also-rans, but in reality there are there are tons of social networks out there, dozens which have membership in the millions. Around the world it's quite a competitive market.